


To the Future in the Distance

by Maidenjedi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maidenjedi/pseuds/Maidenjedi
Summary: Kaydel Ko Connix goes to work for Senator Leia Organa.





	To the Future in the Distance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [igrockspock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/gifts).



> "To the wrongs that need resistance,  
> To the right that needs assistance,  
> To the future in the distance,  
> Give yourselves." - Carrie Chapman Catt

1.

She went through the holo clips from news sources around the galaxy. A local election on Eufornis Major had turned out exactly how the experts had predicted it would.  There was a new winner of the long-running singing competition that had most of Hosnian Prime’s youth population enthralled.  Chandrilla’s ruling family was hosting an annual formal event of some kind.

Separatists on Corellia had led protests in the capital, claiming they intended no violence. But just in the last week, a package bomb had exploded less than two blocks from the prime minister’s residence, and there had been credible threats against Senator Doman Beruss.

That last was of concern, but it would have to keep. 

There came a knock at the door, and the latest protocol droid assigned to her announced the arrival of her new legislative intern.

The droid, a 3PO unit Leia couldn’t quite get used to, spoke. “Senator Organa, may I introduce Kaydel Ko Connix of Dulathia, daughter of Holden and Silara Ko Connix of Alderaan.”

 _Alderaan._ The temperature in the room seemed rise suddenly – Leia felt her cheeks color.  Every emotion possible seemed to course through her.  She took a deep breath and sought the calm offered by the Force, as Luke had taught her. She'd known this was happening, she'd approved Connix's application herself. 

 _Alderaan_.

“Yes, thank you, that will be all, C-1A,” she said.  She leveled the sort of look that usually sent C-3PO cowering behind Chewbacca.  This unit merely turned and obeyed.

Left alone with her new intern, Leia turned to look her over, and had to school her face to hide her surprise. 

Kaydel stepped forward, chin held high.  The girl had her hair done in a common Alderaanian style – not precisely the current fashion on Hosnian Prime, but one Leia could have done with her eyes closed.  The Force was with her; Leia could tell immediately she had no training, possibly no true ability, but she was nonetheless a light.

“Kaydel Ko Connix,” Leia repeated, and it struck her that the name was familiar.  Bail Organa had considered Holden Connix a friend, and he’d been in the middle of negotiations to send aid to faltering systems not long before the Battle of Scarif. It was assumed he’d been on Alderaan with his wife at the time of the Death Star attack, and until this day, Leia had believed him dead.

 “Your highness,” Kaydel said, inclining her head.

Leia twisted her mouth to hide a smile. “No,” she replied, “I’m no princess now.  Be at ease, Connix.”

Kaydel radiated a mixed sense of relief and apprehension. 

“Your father….”

Kaydel’s face tightened, and her relief turned sour. “He hoped you would remember. He is at home, on Dulathia. He wanted me to tell you, he’s been there, ever since…”

“This whole time?” Leia’s incredulity was palpable.

Kaydel nodded.  “My father prefers to be where…to be near my mother.”

Ah.

Kaydel didn’t dwell on thoughts of her mother, Leia noticed. She swallowed a sigh and straightened her shoulders. She was here to work, said those gestures, and she wanted no pity.

Leia could certainly sympathize. 

The comm unit on her desk pinged, and C-1A-3PO reminded Leia she had a meeting with Senators Beruss and Erelen to discuss Corellian protocol for an upcoming delegation summit.   

Leia pressed her hands together. There was work to do. First, this meeting with Doman and Dash Erelen, to ensure all was ready for the delegation summit in a week’s time. Kaydel needed to be brought up to speed on Leia’s expectations, what a legislative session in the Senate would look like. And there was the news from Corellia, a necessary conversation with Amilyn and Doman, to discover whether it was nothing or if it was related to the other news they’d heard about separatist movements across the galaxy. Leia needed to be home, too, later, because Han was going to be there, and they had….

There was a lot to do.

She offered Kaydel something from the caf dispenser and fixed herself a cup as well.  The fortification would be necessary, in Leia’s experience. 

“I have a meeting to attend, and I want you with me, to take notes and learn some of the protocol you’ll be expected to keep track of. Our droids are wonderful, but I expect my assistant to be able to handle herself among the leadership.”

Kaydel nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” she said, drinking down the caf and placing her cup back on the stand. “I’m anxious to get to work.”

The comm pinged again, with a reminder about a defense appropriations meeting in an hour’s time. Leia smiled at Kaydel, whose expression didn’t change.

“Well then. Let’s get to it.”

 

 

2.

Though she was hard-pressed to admit it, Leia had always known peace was temporary. It had taken more than a decade to put down the last of the Imperial remnants. The shift in thinking, in ideology, had been much slower to take root. The longer a star system had been held beneath Palpatine’s boot, the less likely it was to participate in the New Republic’s government.

And the more likely it was to listen to charismatic dictators.

Snoke was the latest in a series of such persons. He was a nobody, from an Outer Rim system that even the Empire hadn’t bothered with. But not all leaders come from the Core worlds, and not all evil traced a path back to the Sith.

“They’re calling themselves the First Order,” Amilyn said, drawing Leia’s attention back to the secure holoplayer between them. The vid playing showed a tall, thin young man leading a dozen or so soldiers, all wearing black stormtrooper gear.

“Is that…that can’t be Armitage Hux, can it?” said Leia, squinting at the hologram before her.

“We think it must be. We never captured Brendol Hux, remember? And there were all those rumors about the Empire’s program to relocate the children of Imperial commanders.”

“We never found proof.”

“No, but it makes sense. We did similar things.”

They had. Even the new legislative interns that had arrived in the last month were part of that scheme, to a point. They had approved applicants with Alderaanian heritage for a reason.

The First Order, so-called, had been gaining sympathy in the Senate. Not outright, not yet, but in subtle ways. Leia had put Kaydel Ko Connix to work immediately on monitoring the appropriations subcommittees; she wasn’t told the reason, but there were votes taking place that Leia wanted tracked. The Rebel fleet was long gone, and the New Republic had only taken care to replace ships and personnel on a limited basis. There was no standing army now. Endor, Coruscant, Corellia – those battles and more were in history texts. Even the eldest of the legislative interns working in the Senate today had no memory of those events. Leia had noticed a trend in the election of new senators in the last five years, political outcomes that favored neutrality in ideological disputes, but even more pointedly, a generation of senators with Imperial lineage was beginning to replace that of the New Republic founding.

Amilyn looked over her shoulder.  They were alone, but she had to be sure.

“There’s more, Leia. The rumor is that the Jedi Temple is a target. Snoke is a Force-user, though no one will say so out loud. If he is a Sith practitioner….”

“He’ll either have an apprentice, or be in search of one.” Leia sighed heavily. Luke had waved off concerns about the Sith, when he first opened the Temple to students. Leia had felt his worry, sensed that he didn’t want to dwell on it, and let him be.

“We need to begin preparations. In case.”

“I agree. Leaving aside Snoke’s religious ambitions, I’m positive this First Order is recruiting on the Core worlds. The separatists on Corellia, the protest march on Chandrilla last week.”

Amilyn’s comm pinged, and a droid voice reminded her of the time. They stood up; if they didn’t hurry, they would be late for the next floor session.

“Is it time to recruit, do you think?” Amilyn whispered to Leia as they walked down the hall.

Kaydel and Denri, Amilyn’s intern, were waiting at the Senate chamber doors, arms full of that day’s proposed legislation and notes.  Leia looked at Kaydel’s eager face; she felt she was seeing a ghost, and the feeling was sharp.

As they took their seats, Leia leaned over to Amilyn.

“Soon.”

 

 

3.

She had been there two months, and already Kaydel felt she’d found her calling.  She was helping make laws that guaranteed freedom, that expanded services to underserved, Imperial-destroyed systems. She was a part of the democracy her mother had told her would someday thrive once again in the galaxy.

It was a glorious, wonderful place to be.

That is, when she wasn’t staring at holovid recordings of subcommittee meetings on drainage systems on core planets.  That was something she could do without.

She refilled her caf and sat back. She knew better than to get too comfortable; she’d either doze off, or the second she found the ideal position, the comm would ping as C-1A-3PO announced another scheduled meeting or the arrival of new data for the appropriations bill Senator Organa was authoring.

She took a sip, and a knock at the door startled her.  “Blast it,” she hissed, as the caf spilled down her suit.

“Connix, you in?”

Kaydel wiped at her shirt and laughed. “Come on in, Denri. I’m just transcribing today’s subcommittee meeting on…”

“Ah, yes, the drainage system debate. I can’t help but wonder why that’s not a local issue.”

“It would be, if we were talking about drainage systems on Hosnian Prime only.”

Denri walked up to her desk and squinted at the holovid, feigning interest. “Well, I think this’ll keep.  You need to get out more, we’ve talked about this.”  He leaned over and pushed the power button.

Kaydel grinned.  “What did you have in mind?”

-

The night scene on Hosnian Prime was quite a bit louder than that on Dulathia, and conversation was hard to come by. Kaydel wasn’t overly fond of it, but her roommates had grown up on core planets and this was normal to them, so she went along.

Denri Thyulian and Freha Girard were Alderaanians, too, working in the Senate for Leia Organa’s closest confidantes, which was how Kaydel had met them. Less than a month into their intense working relationship – because working with Organa, Amilyn Holdo, and Doman Beruss was like being drafted into the army, in a way – Freha had offered the extra bedroom in the apartment she was already sharing with Denri.  “You’ll fit in great, and anyway, we’ll be spending all our time together, might as well crash at the same pad.”

Kaydel had arrived on Hosnian Prime friendless; long days and nights staffing a Republic Senator didn’t really help a person meet anyone. She was more than happy to take Freha up on her offer.

Of course, in doing so, she committed herself to at least one night out a week, at places like The Bull and Spectacles.

Music thrummed all around them, seeming to come from within the structure.  Freha was on her third drink of the night, some spice brew cocktail that had no name.  Denri flagged a waitress down to order a bottle of alcoholic fizz, changing it to two when Kaydel showed no sign of ordering on her own.

“What is that song?” Kaydel yelled in Freha’s direction.  Two tables over, a group of rowdy men – lobbyists, Kaydel thought, probably Mandalorian – were chanting and cheering in intervals.

Freha cupped her hand around her ear.  “ _Buy'ce gal, buy'ce tal_ ,” she shouted back at Kaydel. “Mandalorian drinking song. Means, a pint of ale, a pint of blood, or something like that.”

Denri chimed in.  “All Mando songs are about the futility of victory.”  Their drinks arrived, and he immediately hoisted his in the air.  “But I disagree.  To victory!” he shouted, then took a long swig of his drink, pushing Kaydel’s toward her.

“The futility of victory,” she murmured, shaking her head.  She joined Denri in drinking, and Freha cheered them on.

“It’s the end of the week, and there are no committees meeting tomorrow. We need to let our hair down!”

Kaydel had to agree. This wasn’t necessarily her preferred way of defragging, but she was happy to be there nonetheless.  Nothing to worry about, no deadlines, no protocol.  Just enjoying time out with her friends.

They took turns buying drinks, and Denri regaled Kaydel and Freha with stories about various senators and other dignitaries.

“This one time,” he said, halfway through his third drink, “I was in the ‘fresher….”

The girls moaned.  “Oh, you’re not really going to tell us about a time you walked in on some liaison between Ponc Gavrisom and Behn-Kihl-Nahm?” hiccupped Freha. “Because that’s an old one.”

Kaydel laughed. “Seriously?!”

Freha nodded, and Denri shook his head.

“No way that’s true – Behn-Kihl-Nahm has to be twice Gavrisom’s age.”

“Right, because age is the problem with that scenario!”

“Well, if you don’t want to hear my story….”

A new voice cut in. “A story?  Thyulian, do tell! Is this going to be another rousing edition of The Time Holdo Shot Down an Imperial Fighter?  Or what about The Time Senator Holdo Saved the Wookiees? Or, I know! The Time Thyulian Got Off on….”

Denri shoved his chair back as he stood. “Take it back, B'shaki!”

Freha grabbed his hand. “Don’t!” she hissed, though it couldn’t be heard through the din. 

B’shaki stood with arms crossed, laughing as Denri tried to shake Freha off.  Kaydel recognized him – B’Shaki worked for a Mutandan senator, someone Senator Organa spoke rather poorly of, when she thought Kaydel wasn’t paying attention.  B’Shaki’s friends were likewise familiar.  He continued taunting Denri, who was drunk and still arguing with Freha.

“Hey!” Kaydel said, standing up and wedging herself between B’Shaki and Denri.  “That’s enough, B’Shaki, leave him alone.”

He sneered. “Ah, I know you! Leia Organa’s girl Friday. Guess no one told you working for Organa is a career-ender. Her time in the suns is over.”

B’Shaki reached around Kaydel and grabbed Denri’s drink. He finished it off and pushed the empty glass in Kaydel’s chest.  She pushed back, and the glass crashed to the floor.

“Whoops,” B’Shaki said. He leaned in and put his lips close to her ear. She backed up into Denri. “Guess you’ll have to pay for the glass, then. Organa must be teaching you well – fight back, and all you’ll end up doing is paying for it. She’s an agitator, a traitor.”

She pushed again, missing, for B’Shaki had backed away, laughing.  He signaled to his friends and they left.

Denri was shaking from anger, but he rounded in front of Kaydel, to look her in the eye.  Not touching her, he merely asked her, “Are you okay?”

Kaydel was far from okay. B’Shaki was shite, as far she was concerned, but his words were echoing in her ears.

 _Agitator_.  That was her father’s word, the word he used whenever the Organa name came up in conversation or over the Holonet.  Her mother had disliked it; she would tuck Kaydel in bed and whisper that Bail and Breha Organa had been heroes, and Leia was like her parents.  She would fight for them all, and Alderaan would fight by her side when the time came.  Holden Connix, nascent Rebel though he’d been, lost his taste for the fight when Alderaan was destroyed, and he blamed Bail Organa.

“There is no Alderaan,” he would spit, whenever he heard his wife Silara’s impassioned stories. He’d made the same pronouncement when Kaydel stated her intention to come to Hosnian Prime, and work with Princess Leia.

_Organa must be teaching you well – fight back, and all you’ll end up doing is paying for it. She’s an agitator, a traitor._

Kaydel swallowed hard and didn’t protest when Freha suggested they go home.

 

 

4.

“We cannot stand by while star systems succumb to the preaching of a raving madman!”

The Senate erupted in catcalls as Leia spoke, something she was used to. She persisted.

“This man calling himself Supreme Leader is neither. We have only just begun to see democracy once again flourish throughout the galaxy! We have only just, in the last decade, witnessed the final gasp of the Empire. I call upon the Senate to act today – approve the amendment before you, restore weapons and fleet upgrades to the appropriations act. We must be pro-active to protect the peace we have or lose it in a war for which we are woefully unprepared.”

As she sat down, the Mon Cala senator stood, leading a small number in cheering.  The gavel fell, putting an end to the noise, and the vote was called.

Leia watched with dismay as her amendment was defeated. It had been a gamble – she knew that had it passed, the entire appropriations act was more likely to fail, because too many of her colleagues believed they could at least say they supported a strong defense but abhorred the proposed spending. It was worse to witness that kind of hypocrisy, or would be, if there was not so much on the line.

Debate on the rest of the appropriations act – not the bill Leia had drafted, unfortunately, but a version proposed by Ysanne Nahdonnis of Coruscant, a collaborator during the war – went quickly. Among those who shared Leia’s concerns, there was a sense of defeat. As for the rest, there was either no concern, or active and to Leia’s mind, traitorous, contempt.

She was done, she realized, looking around.  She was just…done.

The day Leia Organa walked out on a key Senate vote was a footnote in history. It was the events in the coming weeks that would make her out to be either a legendary leader or a colossal failure.

 

 

5.

When Kaydel had come to Hosnian Prime, she had stars in her eyes. She could admit as much now, as she sat in Senator Organa’s office, staring at a still of the Princess Leia she’d expected to meet.

The picture was worn on the edges, obvious even in the frame. In it, Princess Leia was wearing the Alderaanian gown she was so popularly depicted in, even so long after the garment itself must have worn out. The stories Kaydel heard had Leia wearing it the day she’d been captured by Darth Vader.

Kaydel had enough sense to have figured out, that meant it was the gown Princess Leia wore while she was tortured.

When she looked at Senator Organa now, there were no signs of that storied day. Whatever had happened was firmly in the past. Kaydel wondered at that, wondered how anyone who had suffered as Leia Organa had could still show the world a brave face.

Kaydel watched the holovid recording of the debate on the weapons funding amendment, paused it in time to capture the Senator’s face in close-up.  She wasn’t just brave. She was there to coerce, to agitate. What good, Kaydel could hear her say, is the light if there is no one willing to defend it?

Followed up by: they had not been given freedom, nor guaranteed it. Someone would come for it, and they had to prepare for that day.

Keep the peace. Be ready for war.

Kaydel turned off the holovid and sighed.  There was no work to focus on, with the appropriations act in the books and most of the committees done with their work for the first half of the session.  There would be a recess called, the next day or the day after.  Her desk was mercifully clear, and C-1A-3PO had not pinged the comm with a meeting reminder in almost twenty-four hours. 

She made her way down to the mess, hoping to find Denri and Freha, anxious for company. A handful of senators had walked out on the vote, and none had returned to their offices nor given instructions to staff.  Kaydel felt duty-bound to stay until she heard otherwise, figuring the same would be true for her friends.

She didn’t find Denri or Freha but was brought up short by what she did find: Senators Organa and Holdo sitting down in the mess, heads bent close together as they read a piece of paper held between them.

Kaydel made to turn around before she was seen but wasn’t fast enough.

“Connix,” said Leia.  “Why are you still here at this hour?”

“Waiting to get word from you, Senator. I thought you might…I wondered if there was anything I could do.”

Anything she could do?  Kaydel laughed inwardly; Leia Organa, senator, princess, rebel heroine, whatever, need a legislative aide, in a time of what felt very much like crisis?

Senator Holdo folded the paper and stood. Leia looked at her and shook her head slightly.

“There’s no need to stay tonight, Connix,” Leia said. “You can go home.”

Senator Holdo held out her hand.  “We shouldn’t talk here, even at this hour.”  She looked at Leia – Holdo stood a good foot or more above her colleague, but to Kaydel, they were eye-to-eye, formidable. “She should be told.”

The room felt cold then. Kaydel shivered as Leia’s countenance darkened, and she nodded in acquiescence.

“Yes. She should.”

-

Leia sat mute while Amilyn told Kaydel a story.

“We came of age at a time when the galaxy was under the control of an Emperor. You know his name, what he did.”

The shadow on Leia’s face darkened. Kaydel watched her, worried. 

“The Death Star,” whispered Kaydel. Amilyn nodded.

“Everywhere, people were forced to submit to a government they did not choose, by people who craved nothing more than power. The Empire turned Jedha into a wasteland, Alderaan to dust. But what it did to the will of the people had an even greater impact. Democracy died under Palpatine. He took it by the roots and burned it, so that even the memory of freedom seemed impossible to so many people.  Some fought back; _we_ fought back. And when we won, the military victory felt like it should be enough.”

Leia spoke. “It wasn’t.”

Amilyn went on, talking about taking back star systems by instituting a democratic system of government on each one. What she didn’t say, what she choked back, was how they had to do it, fighting battles and re-conquering, which they had never fully realized they would have to do.

Some had. Mothma, Hera Syndulla, Ackbar. They’d gone about the task with the same determination they did everything, setting an example for the others.

“Did it work?” said Kaydel, already knowing the answer.

“For a time,” said Amilyn. “But there are always those who want power through subjugation. Worse, there are those who will collaborate with them, to stave off destruction or insurrection.”

“And the Force,” said Kaydel, prompting Leia to look at her sharply. “The…there is a dark side. That was what Palpatine…he was a Sith lord, right?”

The senators looked at one another, and Leia whispered affirmation.

“Is that…are the Sith returned?”

No one moved. The hum of the air unit was the only sound for several minutes.

Leia finally answered, closing her eyes, clenching her fists. “They may be.”

Kaydel looked down, and pressed her hands to her eyes.

Amilyn went on, telling Kaydel what was happening around the galaxy, going into as little detail as possible.  She kept looking over her shoulder, concerned they wouldn't be alone for long, worried that any moment an enemy would walk in.  She spoke about the latest uprising on Corellia, what it could mean.

As she finished, voice raw with emotion, Leia placed a hand on hers.  "We will fight it," she murmured, and Amilyn nodded her agreement.

Kaydel watched them, feeling rather than seeing all that passed between them. She had once idolized the Rebel princess, drinking in stories about her exploits, wishing there would be a war that she, Kaydel Ko Connix, could fight, and be just like Princess Leia Organa. 

She wished more than ever that she could have Leia Organa's strength, for the war she'd wished for could well be on the horizon. And she no longer wished for it. 

“I want to tell Denri,” she said.

Leia looked at Amilyn and nodded imperceptibly. Amilyn returned it.

“You may,” said Leia. “He should not tell anyone else. And Kaydel?”

The change to her first name felt significant. She straightened her shoulders.

“Yes, ma’am?”

Leia took her Kaydel’s hands in hers.  “This is not your fight. Not yet. We may yet avoid the worst.”

Her tone was soft, motherly. Kaydel’s eyes welled up. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

 

6.

Leia stood at the window, looking out on the city.  It didn’t look to her like a place at war – the people hurrying to and from whatever they had going on, they didn’t look like people besieged. Perhaps they had no idea, perhaps they had heard by had dismissed it.  Corellia had erupted in violence, a state of emergency declared, and a plea for help, any help, had gone out into the galaxy.

It was time to force the Senate to admit Snoke was more than a madman. He was a madman at the head of a galvanizing, destructive force that had just gone for the soul of a Core World.

Just that morning, there had been an emergency session of the Senate, in which the Chief of State had announced the government’s neutrality in the dispute on Corellia. Leia and Amilyn had retreated to discuss strategy, to begin plans to leave Hosnian Prime and to gather an army, if need be.

Doman entered the room, and Leia turned. Amilyn was already there, regal as ever, arms crossed, and face determined.

“You know.” Doman crossed the room with purpose, going straight for the table where Leia and Amilyn had left a half-drunk bottle of Hosnian red.  She ignored the glasses and took a swig from the bottle.

“I am resigning, effectively immediately.”

The Senate refused to stand with her home world, so Doman Beruss refused to stand with it.

Amilyn nodded.  “You’ll have to go under cover, if you’re going home.”

“I don’t have much of a choice,” replied Doman, fists clenched. “There are too few who know how to fight, on our side.”

What had caused the uprising wasn’t in any of the Holonet news broadcasts, nor was it repeated by any other than these women and handful of their friends. Doman had stood in the Senate that morning and made the case for immediate, armed intervention, and was shut down.

It was eerie, to each of these women, who had once watched as Emperor Palpatine manipulated the Imperial Senate into a similar position. Star systems crumbled under apparently local disputes, only to come out the other end loyal Imperial outposts.  But they, and so many others, had destroyed it, gone into dark places and exterminated the remnants.

“The Dark Side is always there,” Leia whispered, leaning her forehead against the glass. She had watched the Emperor die and was still stamping out the fires he’d lit across the galaxy.  Worse, her own son….

She choked on a sob and clenched her fists.

Amilyn came up to her on one side, Doman on the other.  The women each took one of Leia’s hands, and the three stood there in silence.

Word from the Jedi Temple had reached Leia that morning.  She’d known, the night it happened; everything had felt off, murky. Leia hadn't slept. Luke was alive, but everything, everyone else at the Temple was gone.

Even Ben.  Even her son.

 _Leia, I lost him_.

She’d tried to reach Ben through the Force.  Her skills were not what they might have been, had she trained, had she not let fear…but they’d always had a connection, she and Ben.  Han had been almost jealous – it was like what she had with Luke, but more than that, something she couldn’t explain.

She’d had no idea about this.

“Snoke,” Luke told her. “He…seduction…”

The Dark Side.

“It’s on Corellia, too,” said Leia, and her friends squeezed her hands.  “Doman, if you go….”

Doman broke away and reached for Leia’s shoulders to turn her friend to her.  “There is no  _if_ , Leia. I’m going, I should be gone already. There is nothing left, if we don’t  _resist_ , and you know it.”

There it was, then.  Decades before, Mon Mothma had taken three young Senators under her wing, and told them about a rebellion underway.   _There is nothing left, if we don’t resist_ , she’d said.

“I leave today, before dusk.”

The women embraced, the sorrow on their faces reflected in the window.

 

7.

All-out civil war on Corellia had been avoided, but the cost was high. Doman Beruss, Fallon Horn. Others, more obscure, less well-known. Too many, and Corellia, while still in one piece, was in the hands of those determined to have the galaxy or break every star system standing in their way.

The Senate chamber was still draped in black. Leia couldn’t walk into it without flinching. 

This could have been avoided.  They could have stopped Snoke before he ever came to power.

She told herself that, and knew it was a pretty lie. Evil would always be there, waiting, biding its time. Luke had warned her, once.

_Where are you now?_

He was nowhere. Not gone, no. But…

Amilyn came up behind her, breaking her reverie.

“Didn’t you tell me, once, that we had to keep going, despite our losses?”

Leia barked out a wry laugh. “Sounds like something I’d say, doesn’t it?”

“If you say the word, we’ll go.”

Because Leia was the leader, now. She always had been. Standing up in front of the Senate, making the case for armed peace. Never voting to dismantle the fleet. Maintaining underground contacts.

Mothma had gone and left the keys in Leia’s hands.  The trouble for Leia was that she hadn’t flown that ship since she was seventeen.  Another key had been pressed into her hands then, and any chance that she could remain above the fray, that she wouldn’t be at the very front of the line, ended the day Tarkin gave the order to end her world.

 _Alderaan_.  It always came back to that.  _Alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons_.

No weapons forged, perhaps.

“We need to get to Kaydel and Denri.  We need them to come with us.”

Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction, Mothma had said once, in a speech or a mission review, who knew. She said it more than one time.  Leia had repeated it on the Senate floor days before, in giving a eulogy for Doman.

“We offer them a chance to join the resistance,” said Leia, looking Amilyn in the eye.  “We give them the same choice once offered us.”

Amilyn nodded. She pushed the comm link.

-

Kaydel sat in the rose garden, waiting. Denri was pacing, taking the occasional swipe at a defenseless flower, his face unreadable.

Freha was gone. She and Denri had stood in the living area of their apartment, arguing over what the right thing to do would be. He came just short of telling Freha he and Kaydel had been called to meet with Senators Holdo and Organa; Kaydel stopped him with a look. Then Freha had unleashed a string of expletives, blaming Senator Organa and her family for bringing ruin on them all.

“But you’re…we’re Alderaanians, at the core. You’re one of us,” said Denri, his eyes wet and his voice rough. “What about Doman Beruss, what she died for?”

Freha’s face had turned hard. “This galaxy has been through enough – we have been through  _enough_. Don’t throw Alderaan in my face. I never knew it, and neither did you.”

“And Beruss?”

Freha never answered that.  The next day, she was gone, a note explaining she’d gone home.

Kaydel tried to just not think about Freha, but it was difficult, when there were so many like her all around them.  Kaydel and her friends had been a unit apart, so many of the Senate staff either ignoring them or actively seeking to exclude them, because of who they worked for; now, they were truly outcasts, because they sought in turn to separate themselves from their colleagues.

“Why do you think they wanted us to meet them here?” Kaydel said.

Denri stopped pacing, ran a hand through his hair.  “Because there’s more going on than they can say in there?  Because they don’t want anyone to hear.  He came over and sat next to Kaydel. He whispered, “Because it is time to resist.”

Kaydel’s eyes widened. She’d known – of course she’d known, before she ever arrived here.  Leia Organa was a hero of the Rebellion.  Her brother Luke Skywalker was a Jedi!  Of course, there would be resistance, against Snoke, against the separatists who were dismantling the bedrock of democracy across the galaxy. Holdo's eyes had shone with that resolve, when she'd told Kaydel what was happening on Corellia, on Chandrilla, in the Outer Rim. 

 _It's coming_ , Leia had said then.  _We have to fight it_.

And of course, Kaydel decided, she would go, too.

She took Denri’s hand, and they waited.  When Leia arrived, the question on her lips, they stood together, impatient.

“We’re with you, Senator,” Kaydel said, eyes shining. 

Leia took Kaydel's hand and held it between her own.

"I knew you would be."

-

  

 

end

**Author's Note:**

> The Doman Beruss appearing here is a Legends character: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Doman_Beruss_(Corellian). Ponc Gavrisom and Behn-Kihl-Nahm are also Legends characters. I took significant liberties with all three.
> 
> C-1A-3PO, Denri Thyulian, Freha Girard, B'Shaki, Fallon Horn, and Senators Erelen and Ysanne Nahdonnis all have names inspired by Legends characters, but are otherwise totally original.


End file.
